A new preview from Games Workshop reveals new models for ripperjacks, the leathery, bat-winged, fang-mouthed predators of the polluted underhive and toxic ash wastes on the planet Necromunda. An article on the Warhammer Community website from December 19 shows new models for the Outland Beastmaster and a pair of ripperjacks – the first new sculpts they’ve had in 25 years.
Compared to the monstrous Tyranids and hordes of other Warhammer 40k Xenos races that terrorise the Imperium of Man, ripperjacks are little more than pests, but for the gang-fighters of Necromunda, they’re a real threat. Their deadly ambushes are represented by their ability to fly down and envelop their foes, making it harder for them to react or flee, according to the preview.
The WarCom article says that Beastmasters use “ancient animal husbandry wisdom handed down throughout history (and their trusty shock staves)” to control their animal charges. This is a bit of a change: in first edition of Necromunda, Beastmasters were ‘Wyrds’, psykers living under the radar, who controlled their animal charges with psychic suggestion.
However, the list of beasts they can control is the same as it ever was, including “gigantic hive rats, rock-skinned millisaurs, and the adorable ripperjacks”. The article doesn’t yet confirm if these other beasts will have tabletop models, as they did in the first edition of Necromunda.
Ripperjacks were introduced to the Warhammer 40k universe in the 1996 Outlanders expansion to Necromunda first edition. Trish Carden sculpted the first ripperjack models (along with the other underhive gribblies) under the name Trish Morrison – her versions of the beasts released in 1997.
The article confirms the new models will be cast in resin, so won’t be suited for newcomers to building and painting miniatures. For more on other Warhammer games, be sure to check out our Warhammer 40k codex release date guide, as well as our guide that’s keeping a close eye on the Warhammer: The Old World release date (which has to arrive sometime, eventually).